Listen:

“The best ideas come as jokes. Make your thinking as funny as possible.” –  David M. Ogilvy

We aren’t brain surgeons, corporate lawyers or accountants. What we do isn’t brain surgery, litigation or company audits.

We are in the idea business – ideas thrive on fun – ideas are nurtured by positive energy – ideas breathe laughter.

Don’t create wilted, beaten, depressed, lifeless ideas…go for the GUSTO…

Make them laugh.

What do you think – as I smile?

Demand no less from others than you yourself actually give.

Kill bad behavior –

Yours; ours; theirs…anyone’s…

But here is the thing.

Make the first move.

Swallow your “pride” if need be and reach out.

Be a leader.

But if you do –

Go all the way.

Demand it of yourself.

Listen:

“If you bow at all, bow low.” – Chinese Proverb

Don’t go half-measure.

Don’t cheap out.

If you are going to lead…if you are going to be the leader…bow low – or don’t bother.

Anything less makes no demand; presents no challenge.

If we all bowed low – the world would be a better place.

What do you think?

PS – Just in case you think I’m starry-eyed and unrealistic – just in case it doesn’t work…

“Love thy neighbour as yourself, but choose your neighbourhood.” –Louise Beal

Poor manners.

Lack of accountability.

Absence of answerability.

You know what I mean….

You are in a relationship and you eat your heart out with angst and anguish and even fear because you feel alone, beset upon, used and unappreciated.

You know what I mean….

So sometimes Task and Purpose isn’t enough…just doesn’t cut it.

Sometimes we have to take a stand – and understand – in fact, believe, that rather than worry about the consequences of confrontation we need to embrace them –

We must make it clear that being less than civil, open, honest and accountable is not acceptable and we must give no less ourselves.

Business, family, friends – makes no difference – give and demand the same.

Listen:

“Put up with it and you will get more of it.” Lynne Deal

Lead by example – insist on no less….

DON’T PUT UP WITH IT….

Your thoughts?

Task.

One cannot really exist without the other.

Purpose without task is mere dreaming.

Task without purpose is meaningless labor.

My friend Sam, who inspired this Ramble, spent the day at the Disney Institute in Orlando. It’s an amazing place where the magic of Disney meets the reality of corporate need. Check this out:

http://www.disneyinstitute.com/

Now I am a sucker for Disney magic, but even Harry Potter’s wand waving requires a lot of hard preparatory work, and Disney is no exception.

I won’t go into all the details – spend some time on the website to get a taste of it – but I will share the notion of Purpose and Task – core to the Disney philosophy.

Here is how it works.

Everyone has a task. Someone empties the trash and someone is the CEO. All very clear and differentiated. But – all believe in the same purpose. No matter your rank, level, task complexity or whatever the purpose remains the same. Never changes – no matter how many times your task might.

So if the purpose of Disney is to create a magical experience for all its ”guests” – and even if my task has nothing to do with garbage – my belief in, adherence to, and full and unconditional acceptance of that purpose requires me to pick up any garbage I might see as I stroll the grounds.

Knowing our task – although not always as clear as we’d like it to be – is relatively straightforward. Believing in our purpose is not always so easy – in fact, knowing it and understanding it – where belief begins – is often the most difficult and confusing.

Listen:

“The secret of success is constancy of purpose.” -

Benjamin Disraeli

We can change tasks, move up the ladder, do new things, add new value – but we have to remain true to our purpose.

Ask yourself what is your purpose – in life, in business, in relationships, in the world. Then see how you support that purpose and make it come alive…as in what task….

Do you know your purpose? Have you matched tasks to the bigger picture?

What do you think?

Ephemeral?

Too soft to measure?

Impossible to quantify?

Maybe…

Last week I wrote about inspiration.

WHO DARES WINS was a summation of my thoughts and Yoda…wise Yoda channeled NIKE – who knew?

But as I stared at the pictures, which I have been doing a lot – believing myself humbled and inspired – I realized that I was missing the point – completely, in fact – completely and totally.

Listen:

Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.

Thomas A. Edison

See the point?

No doubt I was being inspired – but I was being inspired to look, and admire. They were the true geniuses – they were the ones sweating, sacrificing, calling on their inner reserves to make a point – they were inspired to do, and by doing so, they fulfilled the WHO DARES manifesto.

Made me stop and rethink – inspiration can easily be an excuse for inaction and what a poor way to honor the true perspirers who really do move us.

So next time you feel truly inspired?

If you don’t sweat – at least a little – you are really just fooling yourself….

From a sweaty laptop….

What do you think?…

Or perhaps qualification.

Maybe elaboration.

But most importantly…

Clarification.

The 80/20 rule applies to meetings; it applies to some deliverables and products (think Flip).

IT DOES NOT APPLY TO LIFE.

Make no mistake on this one.

Let me explain – cause I am hot on this subject.

Last week I watched a triathlon. The New York City Triathlon, to be exact.

1 mile or so swim in open water – in this case the Hudson River.

25 miles on a bicycle.

And 6.2 plus mile run…

And it was hot in NY.

Lots of reason to fall out; not to complete – to 80/20 – Hey – look how good I did – went most of the way…good enough…hey it’s hot…you couldn’t do this much anyway….

But here is the thing – I was inspired – beyond – not just by the usual overachieving participants racing against their best times, or the folks who simply challenged themselves, or even the professionals whose complete times are sick…

I was inspired by the physically challenged – those born so; the results of tragic accidents; the victims of terror and war. I who take my two eyes, two arms and two legs for granted – watched those without – compete and complete – 80/20? More like 300% plus.

Blind athletes running in tandem with their guides. Men and women on prosthetic legs – some on one – others on two. The paralyzed in special vehicles propelled by their arms. None self-conscious, looking for sympathy or a break – all going for broke – start to finish – Just Doing It….

And the dedication of their friends and teams was beyond. I saw one athlete being carried from the water on his friend’s back and strapped into his special bike – 300% — I err – there is no way to measure this.

Makes one humble – very humble…and keeps 80/20 where it belongs – in perspective.

This is not about winning or losing – this is about doing or not doing and there is no choice.

Listen:

    “Do or do not. There is no try.” – Yoda    

I repeat myself with the Jedi Master – but truthfully I could find no better expression of the point.

You get no points for leaving 20 percent on the table…when you can have it – with effort.

Be an inspirer of doing – not trying. Win or lose, you’ve won if you’re in all the way.

What do you say?

Who dares, wins.

Remember them?

Often called consumers, trade, customers, clients….

Target audiences….

People.

In the digital world “nobody knows you’re a dog” – yet we think we know everything about them.

Who determines 80/20?

Look at the cases – it’s the PEOPLE – not the companies.

When the companies don’t listen; when they think they know everything…they fail – or more likely lose to the Flips of the world….

So what are the rules? 

Are we turning everything to crap?

or…

I don’t know the rules of grammar… If you’re trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to me you should use their language, the language they use every day, the language in which they think. We try to write in the vernacular.
David Ogilvy

Start by thinking in the vernacular – try it…let me know if/how it changes your perspective.

I can tell you this – not everyone in the world wears all black, uses an iPhone and tweets incessantly…

Think in the vernacular, not in your own metaphor.

What do you think?

Or

An improvement?

I’m still on the topic of 80/20 – Good enough….

There has been a lot of discussion – everywhere I’ve gone the past week – on this topic. And it has boiled down to this – What does BETTER really mean?

And most important, what does BETTER mean for any one of us – in our business – in our personal space – whatever/wherever?

One line of thought suggested that we take a good, better, best approach – have tiers of delivery – NO – in my opinion – wrong!!! Tiering suggests that one is better than the other – the gist of Good Enough – 80/20 – is it’s best for the task – different. Way different.

Listen carefully to this paragraph from the Wired article:

 “When asked why he thinks the Flip has succeeded where more powerful videocams—and even new Flip knockoffs from the likes of Sony—have failed, Pure Digital’s Fleming-Wood has an interesting answer: ‘I think it’s because we have a better product.’ What’s odd is that executives at Sony and Canon would likely say the same thing—after all, their models have far more features and often produce sharper images. But Fleming-Wood is using a different definition of ‘better.’ He now defines quality entirely in terms of ease of use—how easy it is to shoot and share the video. ‘The one thing everyone wants to do with their footage is show it to someone else,’ he says.”

See the point? A different definition of “BETTER.” Change the taxonomy – create a new lexicon – a language for a new world.

BETTER…needs to be defined by need, by opportunity – When a Global Consumer Brand, famous for its huge Hollywood Production, Million Dollar plus Epic TV commercials, discovers that $60K videos are pulling the same measurements as the Mega movies – if we ain’t asking questions and changing the view, we are brain dead.

Clearly this notion goes beyond business – BETTER – apply the thinking, see where it goes…

Listen to this:

“You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.” Albert Einstein

And there you have it – it’s a new game – learn the rules and play BETTER than anyone – but guess what – you can make the rules and define better – AND WHAT COULD BE BETTER?!!!!!

You know, the “best practice” meeting rule – the 20 percent left to be accomplished isn’t worth the time it will take to get there given that you have 80 percent of the problem solved.

Personally, I invoke 80/20 all the time. My experience is that when you hit the 80 percent mark, you start moving in circles or – worse – you might actually fool yourself into believing that you have found a hard and fast solution – better to leave some open room for more thinking and ideating.

You with me so far?

80/20 was never meant to be “good enough,” as in no need to do better – it was simply a realization that often better or best or even better than that can be an elusive and even unfulfilling goal – and that solving the problem at hand might in fact be excellence versus solving the world’s problems.

See where I’m going?

This issue came up at Cannes as we judged the work submitted for the Titanium and Integrated Lions.  See last week’s Weekly Ramble.

What was the standard of excellence across all channels? How did you judge extraordinary execution in multiple mediums? Did it have to be the same? (Not talking “matched luggage.”) What measurement or metric could possibly match a high-production-value video with an e-mail reminder when the e-mail was actually the bullet and the video was really the trigger? You get the point.

Clearly some work was good enough – didn’t have to be better – it made the point, accomplished its goal – maybe went beyond – 80/20 – it worked – let’s move on.

Truth is many companies known for big budget, multimillion dollar video productions, of 30-second commercials are being confronted by that debate, as cheaply produced videos clog the cloud but seem to get the same reach, frequency and possibly impact – so that on a cost of 80/20 that extra 20 is a financial drag – and in today’s world that’s not a good thing.

Bob Greenberg, the President of our Jury and well-known Digital Visionary, pointed out an article to us from Wired Magazine, that is a must read to get the debate going.

Here is what the article says about 80/20:

“If that 80 percent number rings a bell, it’s because of the famous Pareto principle, also known as the 80/20 rule. And it happens to be a recurring theme in Good Enough products. You can think of it this way: 20 percent of the effort, features, or investment often delivers 80 percent of the value to consumers. That means you can drastically simplify a product or service in order to make it more accessible and still keep 80 percent of what users want—making it Good Enough.”

Follow the link below, read the rest and see what you think:

The Good Enough Revolution: When Cheap and Simple Is Just Fine – Wired

“We get our breaking news from blogs, we make spotty long-distance calls on Skype, we watch video on small computer screens rather than TVs, and more and more of us are carrying around dinky, low-power netbook computers that are just good enough to meet our surfing and emailing needs. The low end has never been riding higher.”

Lots to comment on – small TVs have always been coveted for the right use; cheap and free have always created its own standard and Avatar would have had less impact if filmed by amateurs with less-than-perfect effects – having said that, there is a degradation of music quality and well – read the article.

Bottom line – I don’t know where I net out yet. I guess I will invoke the 80/20 rule and pass on the debate to you – but

Listen:

“He who thinks he’s good enough
isn’t going to get any better.”

 Arthur Tugman

And there you have it…

80/20, 90/10 or 100+, it’s never about settling…

What do you think?

The space-age metal. Prized for its strength, its ability to combine with other metals and the many applications it helps to create.

An appropriate name for the Cannes Lion that, according to its rules, is

“…for breakthrough ideas. It’s for work that is provocative and points to a new direction. It’s for work that ‘causes the industry to stop in its tracks and reconsider the way forward.’”

http://www.canneslions.com/enter/rules_fees.cfm

At this year’s Cannes Festival – http://www.canneslions.com/  — I had the great honor, huge fun and amazing learning experience of being a member of the jury that judged the Titanium and Integrated awards.

And what a jury it was – great creative directors from great agencies taking a week to look at and discuss great work.  There was deep and reflective discussion, passionate debate and principled deliberation – all leading to a collective desire to inspire a world full of clients and agencies to aspire to ever greater, ever bigger and evermore innovative thinking and execution.

Take a look at who I got to hang with – and you will know why I’m still so excited:

http://www.canneslions.com/enter/juries.cfm?juryid=9

Now here’s the thing – look at the work – look at the short list and then look at the Lions. See what you would have awarded.  The same? Different? Do you agree or disagree with our choices?

http://www.canneslions.com/work/titanium/

What questions did you ask yourself when looking at the work and judging what was integrated and what was breakthrough – how did you define them? And, did you find any “truths” or commonalities between the work – any trends?  Any revelations?

A few thoughts…

I believe that all of the work chosen shares at the core real ideas, simple to articulate, easy to understand.

I believe they all tell a story that is engaging…leaving you with a feeling of time well spent.

I believe that they all use the channels they are communicated in to the fullest and represent neither matched luggage (as in – I have integrated this by making sure it all looks and sounds the same) nor ticked boxes (as in – I have made a viral; I have made a social; I have made a digital) – you get the point…

Finally, I think that the biggest message is that a Twitter retail service innovation and an honest and fresh use of Facebook functionality were the big winners – already, many are pondering the implications to their own business and their own clients.

Simplicity, brilliant execution, relevance, courage in doing something new and bold, and deep understanding and focus on outcomes – inspiring!

Listen:

“An innovation is one of those things that society looks at and says, if we make this part of the way we live and work, it will change the way we live and work.”
Dean Kamen

And there you have it – we have the power to change the world…not bad for folks who don’t do brain surgery….

What do you think?